Airplane for night advertising



2 Sheets-Sheei Filed May 22, 1926 N m I 0x0mknoowxill 00111!!! OI o uolooioooosicouiooiooooool Xooiloooloulooiooooioclooooxooooo. K06! looloolo o oooo oolcoOoloooool loo! ooolooloolo a loolaooolooooo X00 o o uonooiooooloo ooooloooool 0 o oloo ooloooo ooiooooiooooo l oolloo oolooooioolooool o oo l looi oolKlnlloclooooioocmw m G. HAND AIRPLANE FOR NIGHT ADVERTISING Jan. 15, 1929.

Patented Jan.. 15, 1929.

GEORGE HAND, or LAUREL SPRINGS, NEW JERSEY.

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AIRPLANE FOR NIGHT ADVERTISING.

Application filed May 22;

The principal object'of the present inven- -;';tion is to provide'an airplane for night advertising which shall be possessed of an outer wing curve and which shall be devoid of parasite or added resistance such as would be produced by lamps or other parts projecting beyond 'the wing covering and which affords convenient means for changing letters or other display while in the air. Another object of the invention is'to provide not only for building new airplanes possessed of the desirable features above re ferred to but also for incorporating thosev 'desirable features into existing airplanes while at the same time improving the ter in regard to high lift charactenstrcs of a the Wing.

V contour of the letters or characters; and

circuit connections trollers.

The invention also comprisesthe improvements to be presently described and finally for the lamps and con- I claimed.

In the following description reference will".

be made to the accompanying drawings illustrating one embodiment of the invention and in which 7 Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view of the under face of an airplane illustrating a part of the bank of lamps with which the same is equipped. I

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrating features of the invention.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a part of a bank of controllers for the bank of lamps.

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view illustrative of circuit connections.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2 and drawn to an enlarged scale, and

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 66 of Fig. 2 and drawn to an enlarged scale.

Referring tothe drawings it so happens that the invention is illustrated in applica- 1926. Serial in). 110,871.

tion to a R. A. F. wing curve changing it to a high lift wing curve, but the invention is applicable to new airplanes. However, the invention will be described in connection with the drawings and from that description those skilled in the art will know how to embody it. in new machines. There is a bank of lamps of which a part is shown at the left in Fig. 1 but the bank may be coextensive with the wing- For the sake of, description it may be said that the lamps can be considered as arranged at the inter sections of equally spaced parallel lines crossing each other at right angles and the bank of lamps for description may be considered as divided into groups such as 1 and 2, each group adapted by selection of the lamps lighted to produce letters orlike charactors. Each lamp 3 may have an individual reflector. 4. It is important that the: lamps and reflectors be arranged inside of a transparent wing covering 5, shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2. This can well be accomplished by mounting the reflectors 4 in such a way as .to cover openings through a sheet or support 6, shown in; full lines in Fig. 2, extendingfrom the cap strip to the rear edge ofthe wing and underlying the translucent wing covering 5. The reflectors 4t are'arranged behind the openings in the, support Sand are supported byit. The transparent ortranslucent wing covering 5 overlies the openings in the support 6 and in the reflectors, Fig. 5, andby-reference to Figs. 5 and 6, along with the other figures it is evident that the reflectors are spaced between the webs 7 and 8. The lamps 8 are carried by the reflectors. The support 6 may be carried by webs 7 aligned with the webs 8. which extend between .the

wing. spars 9. There is a bankfof circuit .controllersand theyare. arranged atthe intersections of the lines shown in Fig. 3

so that the arrangement of the controllers in the bank of controllers is a duplicate of the arrangement of the lamps. As shown each controllercontrols a single lamp. Letters such as shown in Fig. 3 when applied to the bank of circuit controllers operate those controllers with which they come in contact, thus causing the controllers to light the lamps which correspond in position with the controllers actuated by the letters thus reproducingin the bank of lamps the out line of the letters in lighted lamps. Referring to Fig. 4, 10 and 11 indicate circuit ing the switch plate 21 which can be p done while the machine is in flight. Sinncontrollers, or more accurately, contacts, and they are each connected to one side of lamps indicated at 12 and 13 by separate leads 14:. The other side of the lamps may be connected to a returner ground conductor 15 which may Well be the reflectors fl'and the sheet or support 6, to one'side of the source or battery 16, theother side of which is connected by 17, strip 18 on panel 19, to

19 the. conducting letters 20, carried by switch plate'21 hinged to panel 19, through contacts 22, so that when the switch plate -is closed the circuit paths through contacts are completed lighting lamps 12, whereas since no contact is made at the contacts 11 because the letter 20 does not reach them, the lamps 13 remain dark. The device il- 'lust-rated in Fig. 3 may well be located in the cockpit and while in flight the operator change the display by employing a switch plate 21 having thereon letters appropriate for producing the changed display in the manner indicated. It is a small matter to apply any letters or characters to one 25 or more switch plates in preparation for use during flight. In Fig. 1 the black crosses indicate lightedlamps and the cir- 'cles indicate lamps-that are unlighted so that if we consider Fig. 3 the circuit controllers corresponding to lighted lamps are closed by the letters as has been described. Inasmuch as the lamps and reflectors are arranged inside of a translucent wing covering, it follows that they oiter no resistance. The aviator or his assistant can readily turn on and off the display by simply manipulatreadily larly while the machine is in flight one switch plate 21 can be substituted for another thus changing the announcement or display.

The switch of insulating material and the letters 20 may be backed with rubber as indicated in Fig. 4 to afford them some range of adjustment in respect to the circuit Controllers 10 V and 11. V I

V The described advantages due to the arrangement of the luminous characters or lighted" advertising devices inside of the outer surface ofthe wing covering and also the additional advantage of preserving the aero dynamic efficiency of'the wing curve plate 21 and panel 19, may be int-act without adding any. outside resistance to the aircan be attained with any type of illuminated characters or source'of illumination. I

It will be obvious to those skilled in the vart to which the invention relates that 1nodi-' to the bank of circuit controllers and provided with characters adapted to establish circuit paths through some of the lamps in correspondence with the contour of the characters, and circuit connections, said re iiectors attached to the support plate.

2, An airplane having a bank of lamps and individual reflectors therefor, a support plate having individual openings behind which the reflectors are individually mounted, a translucent wing covering overlying the plate and openings and lamps and reflectors, a bank of circuit controllers individually corresponding with the individual lamps of the-bank, a switch platemovable in respect to the bank of circuit controllers and provided with controller operating means adapted to establish 'circuit paths through any and all of the lamps in correspondence with the contour of said means, and circuit connections.

3. An airplanehaving a bank of lamps and individual reflectors therefor, a sup port plate having openings behind which the V reflectors aremounted, a translucent wingcovering overlying the plate and lamps and reflectors, a bank of circuit controllers corresponding with the bank of lamp-s,-a switch v plate removable in respect to the bank of circuit controllers and provided with letters I adapted to establish circuitpaths through some ofthe lamps in, correspondence with the contour of the letters, and'circuit connections. v i

GEORGE HAND; 

